Ghosts of Past and Future

Two fascinating articles from this week's Times illustrate how life in NYC both changes but also stays the same.

First, an article about people who have lived in their apartments or in the same neighborhoods for decades -- and, in the case of one woman, for 100 of her 102 years of life. This woman has lived on East 84th street since 1911 and has, to say the least, seen her block and her city change quite a bit. She is a living, breathing memory bank. 

As someone who has lived in two different places in this city in my life, I've seen both my neighborhoods change -- for the better (cleaner, less crime) and for the worst (mom and pop stores going out of business, rising rents and prices) -- and it's always fascinating to see the new up against the old. That, in many ways, is the story of NYC and all great cities -- new and old people, new and old buildings, new and old businesses, living side by side; lifelong New Yorkers existing along with recent transplants and immigrants, preserving old traditions and practices while creating new ones, the old timers giving lessons to the "new" timers, the new timers teaching the old timers a thing or two. 

My mom has lived in the same building for over 40 years. Her friend has lived in the same building for over 50 years. Growing up, I remember elderly residents telling me about living in the same building since the 1920s and 30s. When you live in an old building in NYC, you can feel the ghosts of the past living with the occupants of the present -- who are, after all, the ghosts of the future. A little creepy maybe, but also kind of magical. 

What isn't magical, however, what is rather kind of tragic, are when old school businesses disappear. And I'm not just talking about the aforementioned mom and pops, the decades old drug stores and restaurants that gave neighborhoods their character and that, when they vanish, lessen the neighborhoods character. I'm talking about big businesses too. 

Remember Pan Am? If you're under the age of 20, probably not. Pan Am used to not only own the American airline industry but the Pan Am building on 42nd street used to rise proudly in the NYC skyline, the worlds PAN AM visible to anyone within miles site of the building. Today, Pan Am is long out of business, and the Pan Am building is now the MetLife building. When Pan Am went, it was like a part of Americana vanished. Part of the NYC skyline certainly did. It was the first big airline (it was for a long time) and most people took their first flights on Pan Am. Heck, being a Pan Am stewardess (now called flight attendant) was such a glamorous job that they even made a TV show out of it recently (called Pam Am but, like its namesake, the show went out of business too). And when a piece of Americana goes away, it can never really be replaced. 

Here in NYC, a huge law firm called Dewey and LaBoeuf is on the verge of collapse. It used to be called Dewey, Ballantine and this isn't just some law firm. This used to be the creme de la creme of NYC law firms, the kind of place where any lawyer dreamed about working at. It was big, rich, represented powerful clients and companies, and had cache to burn. What it also did, in recent years, was burn through all its money. An ill timed merger in 2007 (hello 2008 financial crises) along with ridiculous compensation packages and mismanagement has not only put the firm on the brink of extinction but has also opened it up to criminal investigations. The firm was named after Thomas Dewey, who used to be a governor of New York and was twice the Republican nominee for president in 1944 and 1948. This firm history had a proud, fine heritage, and was a solid piece of the NYC legal firmament. But greed and stupidity by otherwise smart people has wrecked it. When Dewey goes away, it will dishonor the legacy of a great New Yorker and diminish a part of the NYC legal and business community. Ghosts will be dishonored by its future ghosts. And that is something that can never be replaced.

So I hope that we New Yorkers will preserve as much of our past as possible while, at the same time, smartly look to the future.

A President in Springtime

President Obama has to have the most fascinating upbringing of any of the forty-three men who've served in that great office. 

Born in Hawaii (yes, he was born there), his mother was a white woman from Kansas and his dad a black guy from Kenya. The president has lived all over the country and the world: Hawaii, Indonesia, Los Angeles, and, more recently, Chicago and Washington, DC. Obama has to be one of the only presidents who has lived on both coasts, in the American Midwest, and one of our country's two non-contiguous states. Unlike the morons who say he's not an American, Obama has probably lived in, and knows more about, our country than any of them.

And one of the places that Obama has lived was NYC.

He came here in the early 1980s when he transferred to Columbia University. After graduation, he worked for a time at a company near the United Nations. He lived on the upper west side (in my old neighborhood actually) and enjoyed eating in local diners, including the famous Tom's, as well as going to dinner parties. For a time, he had a very serious girlfriend and contemplated life as a New Yorker. Eventually, he would decide to head to Chicago where he would start his career, meet his future wife, and eventually forge a path to his historic presidency. 

But once upon a time, about a quarter of a century ago, he lived here and it shaped the identity of the man who know is the most powerful person in the world.

Rudy and Willard: Partners in Douchiness

This you gotta see. First, some background. 

Today is the 1st anniversary of Osama Bin Laden's, death and President Obama is taking a well deserved victory lap at having ordered the assassination of the world's worst terrorist. Well, the Republicans are up in arms: how dare he politicize national security! Of course, a Republican president would never politicize national security. 

Cough cough cough.

Anyway, Republican presidential candidate Willard Mittens Romney and the most overrated NYC mayor ever, Rudy Giuliani, thought they'd be clever and visit some firefighters today -- and so they did, even bringing some pizza along. It was a nice photo opp. A Republican presidential wannabe and a fellow GOPer bringing some needed eats to New York's Bravest, the men who were the first responders on 9/11. Take that President Obama!

So there were Willard and Rudy today, walking into the firehouse with their boxes of pizza, looking so happy to be meeting with the firemen, happy to be bringing them the grub. Problem: as soon as they were inside the firehouse -- and, so they thought, out of site of the media -- Willard and Rudy handed off the pizza boxes to their aides. 

They liked be photographed bringing the firefighters pizza but, when they thought the public wasn't looking, suddenly lost interest.

This tells you everything you need to know about the man who wants to be president and the man who was mayor. It shows you how empty and worthless they are. And let's pray neither man ever serves in public office again.  

Check it out for yourself. 

One World Trade Center is Tallest Building in NYC

Pete Fornatale, RIP

Sad news in the world of NYC radio: legendary rock DJ Pete Fornatale passed away the other day. 

Back when rock ruled the airways and DJs were stars who educated their audiences about music, Pete Fornatale was one the best. Listening to him, you could hear his love and encyclopedic knowledge of rock'n'roll in his every word. It burst through the radio and infected his listeners.

Along with the late Allison Steele, Pete Fornatale was one of the last great rock DJs in NYC.

Pete had a long career in NYC radio. He bounced around the dial, from the old WNEW, K-ROCK, WFUV and others. He was on the air at the time when rock was redefining itself constantly, and Pete one of the people who redefined radio in the 1960s and 70's by introducing audiences to the gods of rock: Bob Dylan, Elton John, Buffallo Springfriend, and so many more. For Pete, rock wasn't just the music he played to collect a paycheck, it was his life.

I became familiar with Pete Fornatale in the early 1990s when he was on K-Rock, still a classic rock station then. He was on during mid days (after Howard Stern) and sometimes I would listen to him during my free periods in high school on my old-school Walkman. Pete Fornatale, along with Stern and Allison Steele and Dave Herman and Maria Molito, made K-Rock easily the best station in NYC at that time: great music with great hosts. It was a tiny golden age in NYC radio that is, sadly, long gone. 

So here's to Pete Fornatale. Your legacy will always be remembered, and your love of music will live on.

Space Shuttle Enterprise Flies Over New York City April 27, 2012

Their Cheatin' Hearts

Big news! 

Huge news! 

Monumental news!

All of New York tonight is abuzz with this earth shattering development!

There is a website which you may have heard of (but that will remain nameless here) that makes it possible for people to meet other people who are married or in relationships to have "discrete affairs." Anyway, this very reputable site has just released a report indicating which towns and neighborhoods in the metro areas contains its highest per capita membership. And the neighborhoods in NYC with the highest number of people who belong to this "cheaters site" are, roughly in order: Park Slope, the Upper East Side, Forest Hills, Tribeca, Douglaston, Riverdale, and Howard Beach. 

Basically, with the exception of Howard Beach, the most affluent neighborhoods in NYC contains the most cheaters. At least, according to this "report," they do. 

What to make of this? 

Part of it is obvious. Wealthier people are more likely to be able to spend their money on silly things like this website. They are more likely not only to be able to afford the membership but all of the necessary accouterments of adultery: hotel rooms, secret cell phones, velvet robes, oils and lotions, negligees, whips and chains, masks and dog collars, riding crops -- you know, the basics. They can afford to hire babysitters to watch their kids while they're out doing their illicit banging. They probably work jobs that require them to travel and can use the excuse of "Oh honey, I'm gonna have to be out of town for a few days ..." Heck, part of it just technical: wealthier people are more likely to have high speed Internet connections in the first place!

Also, wealthier people like to do things in a more orderly, verifiable way -- like finding their lovers on a website designed for anonymity.

Part of me just thinks this is bogus. How does membership on a website really determine which neighborhoods have the most cheaters? I'm sure there are lots of people in poorer parts of town who cheat but do it the old fashioned way -- namely, bang their friends' girlfriends or people they pick up in bars. Something like adultery is probably impossible to quantify.

But here's the thing: this is not news. This isn't close to being news. This is a non-story story. It's nonsense. 

So why is it a huge news story? Why are dopes like me even blogging about it? 'Cause it's titilating. 'Cause it's easy to understand. 'Cause it's (literally) sexy. 'Cause it's a diversion.

And so much more interesting than the depressing state of the world. 

Law and Money in NYC

It's not exactly a secret that money plays a huge role in unbalancing the scales of American justice. 

It's easier for wealthy and powerful people to shield themselves from the legal consequences of their gross misdeeds while poor and powerless people get the book thrown at them for even the most minor of infractions. Every time there's a high profile criminal trial, it's always noted by the public and the press how rich defendants buy their acquittals with high priced lawyers. Every time a big corporation wins a liability case, it's usually noticed how their armies of lawyers win the day. 

Justice isn't blind -- it's for sale.

But those are only the high profile, sensational stories. How money and power really perverts justice is in the day to day, routine administration of it. When affluent people are arrested, they can easily bail themselves out. When poor people are arrested, they can't. When affluent people are arrested, their family can get a lawyer ASAP who can get the charges dismissed. Poor people are dependent on overworked public defenders who can't. Affluent people have the means to fight charges. Poor people don't. So affluent people are much more likely to wriggle out of legal problems while poor people are very often forced to take pleas. 

It's an awful, unfair situation. And it's alive and well in NYC. Read about it here.    

Art World Wars

The New York City art world is a big scary place.

If you're an artist, it's basically impossible to make a living from your art but it is possible, for the very lucky few, to make a fortune. For an artist in this town, if you want a career, you have to be good at your work but also good at business. You have to know people, get to know more people, network, get your work displayed and seen by the right people, and stay ahead of the trends. And your work has to stand out, be special, and resonate with collectors and art fans. 

Needless to say, it's tall order to have a career in the arts in this town.

I have a couple of relatives who are career artists and they are amazing at their work and have had success in the NYC art world. But whenever I talk to them about it, they tell me how hard it is to create and sustain a career. 

A couple of articles this week shed light on this very subject.  

New York magazine has a big special issue on how to make it in the art world in NYC. It's an unbelievably complicated, almost treacherous terrain. Obviously the thing that makes it so complex is the vast amounts of money sloshing around the art world in this town. Collectors are paying record amounts of money for art but there are also a record number of artists out there, hustling. The competition is fierce. The money is (potentially) huge. The egos are just as huge. 

Game on.

And money, ego and history along with downright stupidity are what lead to the demise, last year, of the historic Knoedler gallery. This was, believe it or not, the oldest gallery in NYC, older than the Met. The Knoedler essentially invented the NYC art world and lasted for 165 years -- but was brought low by selling forged artwork. It's an unbelievable story -- and shows just how complicated the art world in NYC is. Vanity Fair does an amazing investigation into what lead to the demise of the oldest art institution in NYC. 

It's a tragedy wrapped around a farce.

For once, great news

The week is young but already it's shaping up as one of the most consequential weeks in the history of NYC real estate ever. 

Consequential, mostly, for what won't be happening.

Namely, rent stabilization is here to stay and Walmart is staying out.

First, the Supreme Court declined to hear a case brought by some Manhattanites seeking to overturn the state's rent stabilization rules. That means that over one million New Yorkers who live in rent stabilized homes are no longer in danger that their rents will skyrocket. It's hard to overstate what a big deal this is. This city's middle class is already dying but rent stabilization is one of the few things propping it up. Had the court heard the case and overturned the law, the havoc this would wreck on the city's middle class would have been devastating. Mercifully it won't happen. Personally, I was surprised: this Supreme Court is the most conservative in almost a hundred years and has shown no hesitancy in overturning laws that it finds ideologically distasteful. This has been the most pro-business, pro-rich, anti-worker, anti-poor Supreme Court ever so the fact that they decided to leave these rules intact is quite pleasant. For once, this Supreme Court made me happy -- as it should for the whole city.

Second, the stench of Walmart is probably guaranteed not to waft into this city anytime soon. The retail giant has been busted for bribery in Mexico. This scandal is just in the nascent stage and it's hard to know how big it'll get or what the fallout will be. However, the argument that Walmart is good for this city is now harder and harder to make. Why should this city give the green light for a criminal organization to set up shop in our town and destroy small businesses? Even it's proponents can't defend the company. And, boy, the proponents should try hard. A few times that I've blogged about Walmart, I got "comments" from "readers" saying how great Walmart is for NYC. These were probably paid hacks spouting some company generated talking points. I wonder if such "comments" will be forthcoming now.

So this has been an historic and historically good week for real estate in NYC. Homeowners and small business owners got a break. Let the good times roll!!